Showing posts with label Flight. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Flight. Show all posts
Friday, October 12, 2012
Friday, September 21, 2012
Flying Piper
Yesterday I mentioned I had taken some pictures of Piper flying. Here are a few of the nicer ones. I'll definitively will have to try it again somewhere where there is more light, it might make things easier on me!
He did quite a few recalls to me that night, I was quite proud of him!
Geronimoooooo!
Bullet Piper!
Full wingspan!
He did quite a few recalls to me that night, I was quite proud of him!
Geronimoooooo!
Bullet Piper!
Full wingspan!
Friday, April 6, 2012
More in flight pictures
Her head is somewhat blurry in these pictures, but she's really fast and I have yet to figure out the best settings to use while taking pictures like these.
Taking off
Looks like she's turning a bit
Going up!
Doesn't it just look like she jumped up in surprise in this one?
Taking off
Looks like she's turning a bit
Going up!
Doesn't it just look like she jumped up in surprise in this one?
Thursday, April 5, 2012
96:365 - In flight
Her head is somewhat blurry but I love the shot too much to pass the opportunity to make it today's picture of the day.
I really want to practice these in-flight shots more - even to get this one there was a LOT of trial and error - but Léa seemed to enjoy it.
Monday, September 12, 2011
Flight recall training with Léa
Yup, I'm doing basic flight recall training with Léa, but only inside.
This all started a week ago. Léa was perched on her Wingdow and I was sitting on the bed. I saw my small jar of almonds and I thought it would be fun to see if Léa would fly down from the Wingdow to the bed for the almond. I showed her the almond and she was immediately very interested in it so I thought, why not..I held my hand open flat, with the almond in it just slightly above her towel on the bed and called to her. She flew downwards to get it!
Ever since, I've been trying it once or twice per evening as she seemed much more interested in the whole thing at the time.
On the second night, instead of having her fly to the bed, I wanted her to fly to my hand. So I held it a bit higher, so it would make sense landing on it versus landing on the bed and she did good! But again, the impressing thing is that she flew downwards, which is a good thing to teach in case of an accidental escape as captive parrots rarely know how to do that.
On the third day, after having been released from the Boy, she flew to me from the Wingdow as I entered the bedroom. Which means she flew the whole length of the bedroom (which is really longer than it is large) on her own, for no rewards and landed on my arm. On that evening, I went back to the flying downward exercise but this time an almond wouldn't tempt her. However, a nice string of beads did and she flew right down for them!
On the fourth day, I decided to have her fly to me across the room, but this time on cue (when she did this the previous day, she did it all on her own). I took an almond out of the jar, showed it to her and then called her and she flew to me right away.
On the fift day, I had taken her out of the bedroom and into the living room. I had her stand on a few different play stands and twice, when I saw that she wanted to get off the play stands I took the opportunity to extend my arm and call her to fly to me, which she did.
You can see on both pictures that she is lifting her feet as well as bending down a little, thing she almost always does before taking flight.
On that evening, I also took a short video of the flying down exercise. The quality is a bit poor, next time I'll try to have a bit more ambient light. Again, this was not an exercise on distance flight but to have her fly down to me and to work on cue flying (when I call).
I kept doing more of the same over the week-end.
Today I wanted to work on distance with her once more, as well as having her fly to me on call but not necessarily with a food reward. Since she seemed to want to fly a lot when I got her out earlier this afternoon, I figured I would capitalize on that. I positioned myself across the room with her on the Wingdow and called her to me. The first flight she got rewarded with the almond which she ate half of and then let drop. I had her fly to me on cue a few more times (always returning to the Wingdow between trials) and would only reward her with praise. The challenge on landing on my arm combined with the fun of flight actually seemed to be all it took for her to be happy. She actually flew for a half hour with very brief breaks to catch her breath before taking off again.
While I don't think I'll ever be comfortable having her free fly outside, it's quite the nice thing to practice inside!
This all started a week ago. Léa was perched on her Wingdow and I was sitting on the bed. I saw my small jar of almonds and I thought it would be fun to see if Léa would fly down from the Wingdow to the bed for the almond. I showed her the almond and she was immediately very interested in it so I thought, why not..I held my hand open flat, with the almond in it just slightly above her towel on the bed and called to her. She flew downwards to get it!
Ever since, I've been trying it once or twice per evening as she seemed much more interested in the whole thing at the time.
On the second night, instead of having her fly to the bed, I wanted her to fly to my hand. So I held it a bit higher, so it would make sense landing on it versus landing on the bed and she did good! But again, the impressing thing is that she flew downwards, which is a good thing to teach in case of an accidental escape as captive parrots rarely know how to do that.
On the third day, after having been released from the Boy, she flew to me from the Wingdow as I entered the bedroom. Which means she flew the whole length of the bedroom (which is really longer than it is large) on her own, for no rewards and landed on my arm. On that evening, I went back to the flying downward exercise but this time an almond wouldn't tempt her. However, a nice string of beads did and she flew right down for them!
On the fourth day, I decided to have her fly to me across the room, but this time on cue (when she did this the previous day, she did it all on her own). I took an almond out of the jar, showed it to her and then called her and she flew to me right away.
On the fift day, I had taken her out of the bedroom and into the living room. I had her stand on a few different play stands and twice, when I saw that she wanted to get off the play stands I took the opportunity to extend my arm and call her to fly to me, which she did.
You can see on both pictures that she is lifting her feet as well as bending down a little, thing she almost always does before taking flight.
On that evening, I also took a short video of the flying down exercise. The quality is a bit poor, next time I'll try to have a bit more ambient light. Again, this was not an exercise on distance flight but to have her fly down to me and to work on cue flying (when I call).
I kept doing more of the same over the week-end.
Today I wanted to work on distance with her once more, as well as having her fly to me on call but not necessarily with a food reward. Since she seemed to want to fly a lot when I got her out earlier this afternoon, I figured I would capitalize on that. I positioned myself across the room with her on the Wingdow and called her to me. The first flight she got rewarded with the almond which she ate half of and then let drop. I had her fly to me on cue a few more times (always returning to the Wingdow between trials) and would only reward her with praise. The challenge on landing on my arm combined with the fun of flight actually seemed to be all it took for her to be happy. She actually flew for a half hour with very brief breaks to catch her breath before taking off again.
While I don't think I'll ever be comfortable having her free fly outside, it's quite the nice thing to practice inside!
Friday, April 22, 2011
How to tire oneself out
For the birds that is.
You fly. Then you fly some more. And obviously that wasn't enough so you fly again. Be careful not to fly into the other 3-4 birds that are flying at the same time and keep going. Fly up, down, turn right, turn left, turn in a 180 degree angle and come back to where you started. Just keep flying.
15 to 20 minutes later, this will result in some very very tired birds who just plopped down wherever to take a nap.
You fly. Then you fly some more. And obviously that wasn't enough so you fly again. Be careful not to fly into the other 3-4 birds that are flying at the same time and keep going. Fly up, down, turn right, turn left, turn in a 180 degree angle and come back to where you started. Just keep flying.
15 to 20 minutes later, this will result in some very very tired birds who just plopped down wherever to take a nap.
Monday, February 21, 2011
Recall flight with Piper
Working on recall flight with Piper.
The instruction given for him to come to me was said in French (viens-t-en = come).
The opening sequence was the Boy's idea..
The instruction given for him to come to me was said in French (viens-t-en = come).
The opening sequence was the Boy's idea..
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Zoom zoom zoom!
Today I get to spend my day with the birds, since it's a government holiday.
So, unlike most other week days, they are out of the cages and hanging out with us in the middle of the afternoon.
How are they choosing to spend their time right now? Zooming around the apartment, flying from one play gym to another (and occasionally landing some places they shouldn't (on curtains or on top of the fridge or even on top of the cupboard in the kitchen - which in itself is quite a feat since there's barely no landing space..)).
It's amusing seeing them fly, even little Pixel who doesn't quite have all her flight feathers in but who is still making some progress.
So, unlike most other week days, they are out of the cages and hanging out with us in the middle of the afternoon.
How are they choosing to spend their time right now? Zooming around the apartment, flying from one play gym to another (and occasionally landing some places they shouldn't (on curtains or on top of the fridge or even on top of the cupboard in the kitchen - which in itself is quite a feat since there's barely no landing space..)).
It's amusing seeing them fly, even little Pixel who doesn't quite have all her flight feathers in but who is still making some progress.
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